While Bahá'ís acknowledge that divine inspiration is accessible
to any soul and has guided sages and philosophers in the past,
Bahá'ís generally restrict the word revelation to refer to
the process that informs, directs, and inspires the Manifestations and
the lesser prophets. See the Manifestation section for bibliographic
references.

Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 245 (Tablet of Wisdom, where
Bahá'u'lláh describes how he receives revelation, also in
Tablets 137-152); 424-25 (Gleanings, XXXVII-XL).

Hatcher and Martin, 81-2, 119, 122, 127

Udo Schaefer offers a fairly extended discussion of progressive revelation in
Beyond the Clash of Religions: The Emergence of a New Paradigm,
117-50. Julio Savi discusses the nature of revelation and progressive
revelation in The Eternal Quest for God, and Juan Cole examines some of
the theological functions of revelation in "The Concept of the Manifestation in
the Bahá'í Writings," Bahá'í Studies
monograph no. 9 (1982). B. Hoff Conow briefly discusses some aspects of
revelation in chapter three of The Bahá'í Teachings: A
Resurgent Model of the Universe. See¶56. Sacred History
for progressive revelation.

¶55. Ritual Practices and Ceremonies

The Bahá'í religion eschews ritual as a practice that potentially
can degenerate into meaningless form. As well, the importance of preserving the
"diversity" half of "unity in diversity"--of ensuring that the process of
unifying the world community does not inadvertently impose cultural
homogeneity--makes Bahá'ís careful not to ritualize praxis. The
only official Bahá'í rituals are: (1) recitation of the prayer
for the dead at a funeral, read by one Bahá'í on behalf of those
assembled; (2) obligatory prayer, which each Bahá'í is to perform
daily, generally in private; and 3) a minimal Bahá'í marriage
rite which consists of repeating the phrase "We will all, verily abide by the
will of God" in front of two witnesses.

Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 681-86 (obligatory prayers, also
in Bahá'í Prayers 4-16); 576-80 (Prayers and
Meditations, LVI, fasting prayer). Shoghi Effendi explained that
Bahá'u'lláh reduced all forms of ritual to a minimum (Lights
of Guidance, 464 and Compilation of Compilations volume I, 10). See
also Lights of Guidance, 138-40.

Esslemont, 131 Momen, 83-4

While the Bahá'í Faith has very little ritual, it does have
ceremonies: Bahá'ís celebrate marriages with marriage ceremonies
and commemorate deaths with funerals. They observe major events in
Bahá'í history as Bahá'í holy days, and the
observances can be ceremonial. The monthly Bahá'í feast is a kind
of ceremony as well, though it is devoid of ritual practices. The
Bahá'í community also observes customs: for example, when certain
prominent Bahá'ís enter a room, everyone stands.

Because of the paucity of Bahá'í ritual, very little has been
written about it. The only major work, which is actually quite detailed and
thorough, is Denis MacEoin's Rituals in Babism and Baha'ism. MacEoin
examines ritualistic practices such as pilgrimage, prayer, and festivals.
However, as Christopher Buck responds in his "Review of Denis MacEoin's
Rituals in Babism and Baha'ism," in the International Journal of
Middle East Studies, 28.3 (1996), MacEoin's emphasis on ritual strongly
distorts how Bahá'ís themselves view their religion and its
practices. Linda Walbridge's brief "Rituals: An American Bahá'í
Dilemma," in Bahá'í Studies Review, 5:1 (1995), argues
that Bahá'ís took Shoghi Effendi's prohibition against rigid
ritual and focused more on the "ritual" than on the "rigid," thereby depriving
the community of a much-needed form of religious expression. A
Bahá'í theological defense is given in Miracles and Metaphors,
pages 25-38, where Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl discusses whether
ritualistic behaviors such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage "have any real
benefits and useful effect."

¶56. Sacred History: Progressive Revelation

A sacred history is a theological interpretation of the significance of
history. All religions offer a sacred history. Traditional Christianity's
sacred history, for example, starts with the beginning of sin in the Garden of
Eden and the expulsion of Adam and Eve as a result; continues through the
spread of sin and the necessity to destroy humanity with a great flood; is
elaborated on through the Old Testament period and such events as the exile of
the Jews for their violation of the laws of God; reaches a critical climax in
the coming of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion, which is seen as an atonement
for sin; continues during the era of the church, a time to bring sinful
humanity to the recognition of its Lord; and foresees the return of Christ and
the establishment of God's kingdom. For the Bahá'í Faith, sacred
history is the story of God's promise to educate humanity and foster its
ever-advancing development through the sending of a series of Manifestations,
each of whom builds on the teachings of his predecessors; the story culminates
with the coming of Bahá'u'lláh, the end of human adolescence, and
the entrance into adulthood of the human race.

Save for brief discussions of progressive revelation in Julio Savi's The
Eternal Quest for God: An Introduction to the Divine Philosophy of
'Abdu'l-Bahá, no in-depth presentations of the topic have yet been
written.

¶57. Sacred Story (Mythology)

The Bahá'í Faith does not contain a creation story, such as
Genesis, and generally eschews myth, except as a source of symbolism to explain
abstract concepts such as the spiritual journey of the soul. It interprets the
sacred stories of the previous religions in considerable detail, however. It
redefines and reinterprets the symbols in the previous holy books.

Some of Bahá'u'lláh's classic explanations of religions
symbolism are in Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 423
(Gleanings, XXXVI); 73-77 (interpretation of the symbols "sun," "moon,"
and "stars," also in Kitáb-i-Íqán 33-42).
'Abdu'l-Bahá's Some Answered Questions contains many sections
that interpret various biblical and Christian symbols. A particularly useful
example is his interpretation of the story of the Garden of Eden on 122-26.

The one article solely on the subject of myth is William Collins' "Sacred
Mythology and the Bahá'í Faith," in Journal of
Bahá'í Studies, 2.4. Myth and symbolism are also discussed in
Ross Woodman's two commentaries, A Bahá'í Academy Course on
the Gleanings and A Bahá'í Academy Course on the
Kitáb-i-Íqán. William S. Hatcher presents some aspects
of "myth-making" in "Myths, Models, and Mysticism," in Logic and Logos:
Essays on Science, Religion, and Philosophy. Christopher Buck addresses
symbology in many places in his Symbol and Secret: Qur'an Commentary in
Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-Íqán: Studies in the
Bábí and Bahá'í Religions.

¶58. Scholarship and the Academy

The writings of the Bahá'í Faith strongly emphasize the need for
and importance of scholarship; the second of Bahá'u'lláh's
Hidden Words says that one is to "know of thine own knowledge and not
through the knowledge of thy neighbor." Nor is there any of the Islamic
culture's common suspicion of Western forms of scholarship, as indicated by the
fact that Shoghi Effendi, with 'Abdu'l-Bahá's full approval, attended
Oxford University. However, not all forms of scholarship are encouraged, for,
as Bahá'u'lláh repeatedly cautioned, some merely "begin with
words and end with words" (e.g. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, 19 and
26, and Tablets, 52.)

Among the places in which Bahá'u'lláh discusses the import of
knowledge and describes which types of scholarship are the most useful are
Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 316 (Epistle to the Son of the
Wolf, 26-7) and 195 (Tablets, 51-2). 'Abdu'l-Bahá emphasizes
the need for scholarship in Secret of Divine Civilization, 37-40 and
Promulgation of Universal Peace 295-6, and discusses the types that are
beneficial in ibid., 20-2, 360-1. Two useful collections of primary
texts are Scholarship: A Compilation and the shorter
Bahá'í Scholarship. The latter is from the
Bahá'í Studies Review 3.2 (1994), an entire issue devoted
to discussions of scholarship which includes six different selections of
extracts from the sacred texts on scholarship arranged by topic; these topics
include quotations encouraging scholarship, on ethics and methodology, and on
review. Lights of Guidance, 210-14, has relevant comments on education
and universities.

Rick Harmsen's "The Holy Grail of Objectivity," in Deepen, 3.3 (Fall
1995), is a useful if not academic discussion of some ways in which
Bahá'í studies might differ from the traditional Western
scholarship. Susan B. Brill has made similar observations in her response to
Iraj Ayman's commentary on Craig Loehle's "On Human Origins: A
Bahá'í Perspective," in Journal of Bahá'í
Studies, 4:2 (Sept.-Dec. 1991). Her subsequent "Conversive Relationality in
Bahá'í Scholarship: Centering the Sacred and Decentering the
Self," in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 7:4 (June-September
1995) provides further suggestions--though written in an obfuscated style--for
revised academic approaches to create a uniquely "Bahá'í,"
consultative, non-confrontational type of scholarship. Moojan Momen presents
some initial considerations of Bahá'í scholarship, such as its
place in the Bahá'í community and the unique approaches to
scholarship offered by the Bahá'í teachings, in "Scholarship and
the Bahá'í Community," in Journal of Bahá'í
Studies, 1.1 (1988-1989). William S. Hatcher examines the same subjects in
"Scholarship: A Bahá'í Perspective," in Journal of
Bahá'í Studies, 1.2 (1988-1989). The Bahá'í
Studies Review, issue 3.2 is devoted to the subject of Bahá'í
scholarship. Besides the selections of primary text quotations listed above, it
includes Moojan Momen's "Bahá'í Scholarship -- Definitions and
Perspectives," Stephen Lambden's "Doing Bahá'í Scholarship in the
1990s: A Religious Studies Perspective," and Seena Fazel's research note "The
Bahá'í Faith and Academic Journals." Denis MacEoin has published
a few articles asserting that there are aspects of the Bahá'í
Faith that make it an unpropitious atmosphere for scholarship;
Bahá'ís have responded to each of these articles. The most
informative of these exchanges is MacEoin's "Problems of Scholarship in a
Bahá'í Context," in Bahá'í Studies Bulletin,
1.3 (1982), followed by Stephen Lambden's response in the same issue. Moojan
Momen and MacEoin offered further comments in Bahá'í Studies
Bulletin, 1.4 (1983). Anthony A. Lee discusses ethics and methodologies of
scholarship, especially of the scholar's interpretations of
Bahá'í history, in "Bahá'í Values and Historical
Inquiry: Musings on the continuing Discussion of Ethics and Methodology," in
Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, 3.3 (Sept. 1985). Stephen
Lambden, in the same issue, offers "Some Thoughts on the Establishment of a
Permanent Bahá'í Studies Centre and Research Institute," complete
with possible course outlines, and includes a selection of quotations on the
topic of encouraging Bahá'í scholarship. This piece has also been
reprinted in dialogue, 2:2&3 (1988).

¶59. Science and Religion

The Bahá'í Faith sees reality as one, and therefore argues that
science and religion cannot be in disagreement, since they both investigate the
same reality. This assertion of the Bahá'í Faith should not be
understood as a statement that the two have never conflicted as much as a
statement of faith that ultimately they cannot be in conflict, and a statement
of principle that Bahá'ís must seek to resolve tensions between
the two in a spirit of open-minded investigation, recognizing that truth is
relative and that human interpretations of both nature and revelation will be
imperfect.

The most prolific writer on the subject of science and religion is
unquestionably William Hatcher. His writings on the subject include "The
Science of Religion," in Bahá'í Studies, no. 2, which
consists of three papers on the relationship between science and religion;
Logic and Logos, which contains five essays on the connection between
logic and the study of the revelation; and "A Scientific Proof of the Existence
of God," in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 5.4 (Dec. 1993-Mar.
1994). Anjam Khursheed has written several essays on the relationship of
science and religion that have been published as a book called Science and
Religion: Towards the Restoration of an Ancient Harmony, as well as the
article "The Spiritual Foundations of Science," in Jack McLean, ed.,
Revisioning the Sacred: New Perspectives on a Bahá'í Theology:
Studies in the Bábí and Bahá'í Religions,
volume 8.A very useful paper is Brian Aull's "The Faith of Science and
the Method of Religion," in Journal of Bahá'í Studies,
1.2, (1988-1989), followed by G. A. Bartholomew's study of the same, "Harmony
of Science and Religion: A Complementarity Perspective," in Journal of
Bahá'í Studies, 1.3 (1989).

EVOLUTION

An important scientific issue about which the Bahá'í
authoritative texts contain enigmatic comments is evolution. The first
scholarly exploration of these comments is by Craig Loehle, "On Human Origins:
A Bahá'í Perspective," in Journal of Bahá'í
Studies, 2.4 (1989-1990), which he further explored in On the Shoulders
of Giants, 92-115. The article occasioned a good deal of commentaries and
author's responses in subsequent volumes of the Journal of
Bahá'í Studies; the most useful of these is probably Arash
Abizadeh's "Commentary on 'On Human Origins: A Bahá'í
Perspective,'" in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 3.1
(1990-1991). Two other articles examine notions of societal evolution from the
standpoint of systems theory, though they only discuss the Faith in passing:
Ervin Laszlo's intriguing "Humankind's Path to Peace in a Global Society," in
Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 2.2 (1989-1990), 19-36, and
George Land's "The Evolution of Reality," in Journal of Bahá'í
Studies, 3.1 (1990-1991, 19-30.

¶60. Scripture

The Bahá'í Faith regards the writings and the written record of
the oral teachings of all previous Manifestations as sacred scripture. This
includes the Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible (the Old and the New
Testaments), the Qur'án, and all the writings of the Báb and
Bahá'u'lláh, and could also include core texts of other
traditions, such as the Zoroastrian Gáthás, the Hindu Vedas, and
the Buddhist Tripitaka. The writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, though not
regarded as "revelation," are, by virtue of their infallibility, also
considered to be scripture.

Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas 73-74, and note 165.

Esslemont, 127-8

BACKGROUND

The writings, or tablets, of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh,
'Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi are stored at various places at the
Bahá'í World Center in Haifa, Israel. Soon they will be moved to
a building named "The Center for the Study of the Sacred Texts," which is under
construction as of this writing. Microfiche copies of the tablets are also
preserved for safekeeping at a variety of places around the world. Many texts
were lost, stolen, or destroyed, and many others are still held in private
hands. The estimated figures for the total number of individual tablets are as
follows: Bahá'u'lláh, 7,160 tablets archived, 15,000 total
estimated to have been written; 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 15,549 tablets archived,
30,800 total estimated to have been written; Shoghi Effendi, 16,370 letters
archived, 30,100 total estimated to have been written ("Bahá'í
Archives: Preserving and Safeguarding the Sacred Texts," in
'Andalíb magazine, 12.48 (Fall 1993): insert). William Collins
has described the structure of the International Bahá'í Archives
and other considerations relevant to preserving the sacred texts in "Library
and Archival Resources at the Bahá'í World Centre," in
Bahá'í Studies Bulletin, 3.4 (Dec. 1985).

SCHOLARSHIP

Scholarship on scripture, Bahá'í or other, is just beginning to
develop. The development is occurring along several lines. The study of
literary symbolism is still the most common form of analysis found.
Hermeneutics and commentary is relatively little developed, and
historical-critical work on Bahá'í and other scripture from a
Bahá'í perspective is even rarer. Published to date have been are
Michael Sours, "Immanence and Transcendence in Divine Scripture," in Journal
of Bahá'í Studies, 5.2; Stephen Lambden, "The Word
Bahá: Quintessence of the Greatest Name," in The Bahá'í
Studies Review, 3.1 (1993): 19-42; Udo Schaefer, "The Balance hath been
Appointed": Some Thoughts on the Publication of the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas," in The Bahá'í Studies
Review, 3.1 (1993): 43-54; and Khazeh Fananapazir and Seena Fazel, "The
Station of the Kitáb-i-Íqán," in The
Bahá'í Studies Review, 3.1 (1993): 55-66. The Ocean of His
Words: A Reader's Guide to the Art of Bahá'u'lláh, by John
Hatcher, provides an academic analysis of the writings of
Bahá'u'lláh to evoke an awareness of their artistry. Dann May's
"A Preliminary Survey of Hermeneutical Principles Found within the
Bahá'í Writings," in Journal of Bahá'í
Studies, 1.3 (1989) and Juan Cole's "Interpretation in the
Bahá'í Faith," in Bahá'í Studies Review, 5:1
(1995) each describe analytical interpretion of scripture. The international
Haj Mehdi Arjmand memorial conferences on scripture, held annually in Europe
and North America, have produced a body of soon-to-be-published papers on
scripture.

¶61. Shoghi Effendi

Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957) became the head of the Bahá'í Faith,
or Guardian, on the death of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921. He built his
ministry on two documents by 'Abdu'l-Bahá: the Tablets of the Divine
Plan, which give the American Bahá'ís the task of taking the
Bahá'í religion to the entire world, and the Will and
Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, which established the Guardianship,
appointed Shoghi Effendi the head of the Faith, and described the system of
local, national, and international governing bodies that the
Bahá'í religion is to have. Shoghi Effendi first established the
organizational system, which he titled the Bahá'í
Administrative Order, and then turned the administrative machinery to the
task of systematically taking the Bahá'í religion to the entire
globe. He also translated many of the writings of Bahá'u'lláh
into English, setting a standard of quality for Bahá'í
translations that was much higher than the Bahá'ís had previously
had; and he wrote extensively about basic Bahá'í teachings,
defining many doctrines in clear terms for the first time.

The most complete study of the life and thought of Shoghi Effendi is The
Vision of Shoghi Effendi: Proceedings of the Association for
Bahá'í Studies Ninth Annual Conference. This collection
contains good articles on his writing and translation style, his world outlook
and personality, and personal reminiscences of him. The best biography of
Shoghi Effendi was written by his wife, Rúhíyyih
Rabbání, and is titled The Priceless Pearl. She has also
written a second book of reminiscences titled The Guardian of the
Bahá'í Faith. There is also a volume of memoirs by Ugo
Giachery titled Shoghi Effendi. Marcus Bach, a non-Bahá'í
professor of religion, has left a memoir of his meeting with Shoghi Effendi
titled simply A Meeting with Shoghi Effendi. A transcript of a talk by
Leroy Ioas, "In the Days of the Guardian: A talk by the Hand of the Cause Leroy
Ioas," in Deepen, 7.3 (Summer 1995), offers some insights into and
anecdotes about the personality of Shoghi Effendi. The essays in Richard
Hollinger, ed., Community Histories: Studies in Bábí and
Bahá'í History, volume 6, contain many passing references to
the Guardian. Two short summaries of the life and person of Shoghi Effendi are
David Hofman's "Shoghi Effendi, Expounder of the Word of God," and Helen, John,
and Amelia Danesh's "The Life of Shoghi Effendi," both of which are in Morten
Bergsmo, ed., Studying the Writings of Shoghi Effendi.

WRITINGS

For a list of the principal works from Shoghi Effendi's pen--almost all of them
compilations of his letters--see "Writings of Shoghi Effendi," in the
Bibliographies section, below. An analytical essay on Shoghi Effendi's
interpretation of the Bahá'í writings has been written by
Glenford Mitchell titled "The Literature of Interpretation: Notes on the
English Writings of Shoghi Effendi," in World Order, 7.2 (Winter
1972-73). There is one good commentary on a work of Shoghi Effendi, Ross
Woodman's A Bahá'í Academy Course on Promised Day is Come.